Ana has risen one place to No.6 in the latest WTA rankings, following her run to the semi-finals of the French Open.

Crucially, she has rocketed from 27th to 12th in the Road To Singapore, the standings that determine the eight qualifiers for the season-ending event. She is now within striking distance of the top eight.

Serena Williams’ victory in Paris makes her the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2003 to have won the year’s opening two Grand Slams, and she extends her lead at the top of the rankings.

Ana’s bid for a third French Open final came unstuck at the last hurdle as she fell 7-5, 7-5 to the superb Lucie Safarova in the semi-finals. The former world No.1 surged into a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but was unable to capitalize upon that advantage and suffered a straight sets defeat in one hour and 52 minutes.

After a drought of seven years, Ana is back in the semi-finals at the French Open as she fabulously beat Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2. The 27-year-old dominated the entire contest and triumphed after just one hour and 15 minutes.

It was extremely windy on Philippe Chatrier Court and the weather conditions clearly affected both players in the early stages. From the first four games, three of them went against the server but as Ana was the only who had managed to hold, she went 3-1 up.

Ana takes on world No.21 Elina Svitolina in order to book a spot in the semi-finals at the French Open. The meeting on Tuesday will be the seventh meeting between the pair, with the former world No.1 clinching victory in all of the previous encounters.

Two of those six meetings have taken place on clay. Last year, Ana beat Svitolina 7-5, 6-2 in the second round here at Roland Garros and earlier this month the seventh seed impressively moved past the Ukrainian 6-3, 6-4 in Madrid.

Ana reached the quarter-finals at the French Open with a marvellous 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 win over world No.9 Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round. The match was suspended for more than two-and-a-half hours due to the rain, but the seventh seed stayed utterly composed and eventually emerged victorious.

What suspense! What a fight! But above all: what a reward! For the first time since capturing the title here at Roland Garros in 2008, Ana is back in the last eight stage of the tournament. Clinching just her first win over a top 20-ranked player this season makes it a bit more special.

Ana takes on world No.9 Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round of the French Open on Sunday. It will be the third meeting between the pair.

Ana won the first encounter with the Russian at the US Open in 2010, but she can’t look back with sweet memories at their second meeting in 2011, when the 27-year-old was eliminated in the first round of the Australian Open, losing the deciding set 10-8.

Ana passed the third round of the French Open with flying colours as she crushed Donna Vekic from Croatia 6-0, 6-3. Unlike her first two matches, the seventh seed’s game clicked into place from the very beginning; she never surrendered supremacy as she reached the last-16 stage in just 53 minutes.

Ana immediately felt in her element on a sunny Friday morning in Paris and found her service range already in the first game of the match. She delivered some classy serves, hit one ace and if Vekic did manage to get the return back in play, Ana ruthlessly hammered away ball three in fine style.